Report: 64,000 people fled Puerto Rico last year amid crisis

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / AP

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A record 64,000 Puerto Ricans left the island last year for the U.S. mainland, the highest number in the past decade, officials said Thursday.

The exodus represents a 31 percent increase from 2013, when some 49,000 people left, according to the island's Institute of Statistics.

The surge in departures comes as the U.S. territory of 3.5 million people struggles with a nearly decade-long economic slump. The island has a 12 percent unemployment rate, higher than any U.S. state, and has a labor participation rate of less than 40 percent, compared to 62 percent on the U.S. mainland.

Overall, more than 200,000 people are estimated to have left Puerto Rico between 2010 and 2014, the majority of them families and young educated workers, local demographer Raul Figueroa said in a phone interview.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/report-64-000-people-fled-puerto-rico-last-222153496.html

[DesertFlower]

1. so sad. it's such a beautiful place and

the people are so nice.

[dhol82]

2. Indeed

But, if you can't make a living, it gets tough.

The really sad part is that the ones who are leaving are the ones who would be the leaders of tomorrow.

Let's see what happens. There are always people ready to take up the slack. We might see the new leaders of tomorrow.

[FormerRepublicanNow]

3. I have lived in the US Virgin Islands for more then 15 years,

have visited our neighbor Puerto Rico many, many times, and have numerous friends there. And what scares the businesspeople the most, on all four islands, is the effect that the normalization of relations with Cuba will have on the tourist industry. It is one of, if not the largest, industry on these islands. Already because the US minimum wage is so much higher then the other islands, the resorts have a difficult time financially competing with resorts on other islands, and Cuba will only exacerbate this problem. Many Europeans already favor Cuba over these American islands, and these islands live on American tourism. The very large, beautiful, near-by and exotic island of Cuba has never been able to compete for the American tourist dollar, but if relations with Cuba is normalized, this will all change. The construction of new facilities for tourist and their economy will boom on Cuba, while the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico just die away.

[DesertFlower]

4. on one trip to puerto rico we

took a prop plane over to st. thomas to do shopping. it was breathtakingly beautiful. my late husband and i always hoped we would have normal relations with cuba so we could vacation there. before castro, cuba was the hot spot.

been to both nassau and freeport but liked puerto rico more. felt very comfortable there.

my niece is canadian. she vacationed in cuba a few years ago. she didn't post any pictures though. when she went to costa rica she took 100s of pictures.

let's hope all the islands and the people are able to do well and survive. i watch HGTV and so many people are buying vacation homes in the caribbean. others are making permanent moves.

welcome to DU.

[cstanleytech]

5. If you are arguing that its the fault of the minimum wage I am just not buying it.

If anything Puerto Rico seems to be suffering from a similar problem that is affecting Greece which is both are overly reliant on tourism which means when the worlds economy is having problems they will have problems more than countries or states who are not reliant on tourism.

[FormerRepublicanNow]

7. I am not arguing that its the fault of the minimum wage

These islands are overly reliant on tourism, and anything that will effect the tourism industry negatively will have a severe economic consequences on the people. Opening up a low cost competitor like Cuba will do just that. Already in Puerto Rico some people in the non-tourist areas do not have electricity and water for part o the day. There will be unintended consequences to normalizing relations with Cuba.

[Travis_0004]

8. I buy it

First off, what is your solution?

Yes, they rely on tourism, what else should they do? Manufacture goods? Probably cheaper to have them made stateside and avoid shipping cost. Puerto Rico did have a decent manufacturing base. There was a law that stuff manufactured in Puerto Rico was exempt from federal taxes, as made manufacturing quite popular. It was phased out starting in 1996, and fully phased out in 2006.

If you wanted to manufacture something in a small island, the Dominican republic is close to Puerto Rico, and a lot cheaper. Also, shipping goods to Puerto Rico is significantly more expensive than shipping them to neighboring islands due to the Jones act. A ship sailing from one US port to another US port must be a US flagged vessel. If I wanted to ship something from the US to the Dominican republic, I can ship it with anybody.

And honestly, for tourism, I think the British Virgin Islands are nicer. Downside is you need a passport, but even though its a british island, they use US currency, so it makes travel easy.

[cstanleytech]

9. For Puerto Rico? There isnt one.

Greece might be able to change their main source of income with a long term investment of becoming a major center of education and they could get away with it since they do have so much history to draw students to the country but a small tiny island like Puerto Rico? Not likely. Same for manufacturing, Greece can do more because of its location.

[MADem]

11. PR used to have a large sector of pharmaceutical manufacture and personal hygiene products

like toothpaste and other drugstore goodies. That was back when they had the exemptions.

I like PR but I have family there, so that colors my view.

[Travis_0004]

6. Thats a good take on it

I've been to Puerto Rico, but never was really that impressed with it. I would much rather get on a ferry and head to the British Virgin Islands, which are only about 20 miles away.

[MADem]

10. What's sad is the graffiti and lack of care even in the traditionally tourist areas of San Juan.

It's less noticeable in the countryside, but not much changes there from day to day anyway.

Unemployment is a terrible problem. I don't see how it gets better with Cuba coming on line and joining the club, in essence.

There is no work unless you work for the government, but how many make-work jobs can the government continue to invent? It's a mess.

[GOLGO 13]

12. Looks like Florida will be getting more Democratic voters.

Always a good thing when FL has more Democrats voting.